I’m going to be speaking about the Queen’s Park Restoration Act, but before I begin, I hope that my colleagues will allow me to diverge a bit just to share a message that was shared with me last night that I think will resonate. It’s non-partisan, but I think it will resonate with all of us. It says:

“Big day tomorrow across the province. It’s the district Mine Rescue Competition ...

“And this year, Goderich is hosting ...

“Tomorrow, we will welcome 15 students and their teachers as spectators. These students have an interest in mining and/or emergency services.

“Our local volunteer firefighters will also be in attendance.

“This is the brainchild of my husband, our local mine rescue officer and myself.

“To our knowledge, it’s never been done before.

“Important people at Compass Minerals, Workplace Safety North, and Unifor are paying attention ...

“Not sure how it will go ... but tonight we are pretty excited about it!

“Name tags, flashlights, ear protection and handouts are ready to go ...

“This year’s ‘problem’ was written by an MRO (mine rescue officer) from the southern district.

“The MRO from our region, who wrote the problem was sent up to Timmins to judge and facilitate up there ...

“Because as we all know ... the Hollinger mine disaster is the reason that we have Ontario Mine Rescue at all ....

“This is one of two MROs that train Windsor, Goderich and Hagersville ...

“There are only two teams at districts this year ...

“There should be three.

“We will all be missing our friends from the competition team at Windsor.

“We play hard together, but we learn from each other. We support each other.

“When the tornado hit Goderich in 2011, the only fatality in the whole town was the man who was working the boom, loading boats at the mine.

“Windsor was called in for mutual aid to recover the body. This was a hard job for Windsor because a lot of people on the Windsor team were originally from Goderich ...

“To quote my husband:

“‘We are used to working together.

“‘We are used to learning together.

“‘Salt is always salt. Work is always just work ...

“‘And our miners here hope that Windsor gets back to work because we miss the friendly competition and the opportunity to learn together to keep our workplaces safe ...’”

Thank you, Speaker and my colleagues, for allowing me to share that. I know that we all care about safety for our mining communities.

I’m proud to stand and talk about the Queen’s Park Restoration Act. I’m going to say this bill is exciting and extremely dull. It is exciting because of the work that we’re going to do, but in terms of the bill itself and what’s in the bill, it’s very dry and dull and spells out how to move forward. As a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, I’m going to share some of the process of how we got to here. I’ll also talk about the bill itself, but I think that in the debate we’ve had so far, the meat and potatoes of the bill have been discussed a lot, and there’s a good understanding, I think, from all of my colleagues about what’s in the bill.

This morning when I was thinking about what I was going to say and preparing, I thought of the Greek proverb, “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” Obviously, this was written a long time ago, when it was old men who made the decisions, and so I want to recognize, as well, women and everybody else who makes decisions. But I think that’s the core of the journey we’ve been on in committee when we look at the restoration of Queen’s Park.

When we first started discussing it, we all came to the table with what we wanted, things we’d like to see, even small things in terms of—there’s technology in use here, but there are no charging stations. There’s no way to plug in anything at our desks. I have, a couple of times, had to go to my office to plug in my laptop to let it recharge so I can come back to have it here.

Very quickly, we learned as a committee, as a group, that this really was about planting trees under whose shade we’ll never sit. Some of us might be here when the project is completed. But the reality is that political careers typically do not last a very long time, and this project will probably end after many of our careers have sunsetted—either after we retire or after we’ve been replaced—because as I say often here, we are just renting these chairs. When that realization hit for all of us, I think what happened for many of us is, we understood the opportunity we had to make this place better for everybody, and that, I think, is when the committee really clicked. It really was a turning point for the committee.

I really enjoyed being on the committee, I have to say—the opportunity to work together, to have very open conversations. A lot of what we do here can feel adversarial at times, but I think that when it comes to what we’re doing for the Queen’s Park restoration, that sense of “adversarial-ness” is gone.

It’s easy for us as parliamentarians to think about what changes we would like to see. For example, many of my colleagues from the government side don’t have a place to put their stuff when they come here. I have an office really close to here, actually, just one floor up, but some of my colleagues on the opposition side have to walk as far as the north wing. Many of the Conservative members, the government members, show up and put their stuff in their car, or they all pile it into the whip’s office, or they’re working in the cafeteria or holding meetings there. It’s an opportunity to expand in that area and make this a better workplace for the people who want to meet with ministers and to have that flexibility.

But it’s not really about us. We feel sometimes like we’re the centre of the universe. Once you’re elected, everyone here is incredibly nice to you, incredibly polite. I’m reminded of this because the first time I was at Queen’s Park, I was kicked out, as a visitor, for being too rambunctious—and honestly, I deserved to be kicked out, and our group. In the gallery, you’re not allowed to make comments. We were upset and we made a lot of noise, and they cleared the galleries. But the reality is, coming back, it was a whole different experience. When you’re escorted out of this building and then the next time you come back they hold the door and call you, “Sir,” it’s a little startling.

When we come here as MPPs, we feel like the centre of the universe because we’re preparing for debate. The days are very hectic. Yesterday, by noon, it felt like I had done two days of work with the meetings that I had, with everything going on. That’s how it can feel. But in order for us to be effective like that, in order for us as MPPs to be that engaged with our community and bring their voices forward, there is a whole system behind this that also has to be successful. There are our staff, specifically. But there are also the Clerks. There are also the maintenance people. There are also the cleaners. There are the tour groups and the students who come. There are all these other components to the building that, if you’re not paying attention, you just don’t recognize. These facility upgrades are for them; we’re a small component of it. A lot of the place really works well for most of us. So there’ll be some tweaks and nudges that will help us as MPPs, but the majority of what we’re doing, the majority of what this project is—that we’re going to plant trees that, for many of us, we may not see the shade—really is about the people who work in this building, who have careers in this building, and the people who visit this building, the students who come here.

It’s also about improving the safety. I’m reminded, for example, that half of this building is made out of wood and half of this building is made out of marble. The reason half of it is made out of marble is because there was a fire. The wooden portion burned down, and they were only able to save half of the building. So the architect who redesigned it chose marble for the building. I don’t want to frighten people to think that this is a fire trap or anything like that, but there are things we can do to lessen the risk of fire, to ensure fire protection services.

That’s something we need to keep in mind, understanding that not only is this our workplace, but this is a tourist destination. This is a place where, all the time, people are wandering around on tour, learning about this historical site.

There have been some renovations that have been done in the past—obviously, there are cameras; when you think of a building from 1893, there wouldn’t have been cameras back then—but there haven’t been a lot. It has been a lot of piecemeal work. I worked in construction for more than a decade, and there is only so much you can do before you’ve got to start from scratch; there’s only so much you can do to tinker and nudge.

We were fortunate, on the standing committee, to go for a tour of this building. Many of us in our offices would recognize there’s some need for improvements. I’m in one of the corner offices of the building before it goes into another hallway, and there is a snake of Cat 5 cables that goes through my office. Our House leader is next door to my office, and there’s probably one less cable in his office and one less in the office after that. But it is literally just a snake of cables all tie-wrapped together that punches a hole through the wall and goes to the next office and the next office. It’s because there’s no more room to bring it through the walls; there’s no more room to cover it up. We went into the air return system, which is only supposed to be for air coming in and out of the building, to allow some ventilation and clean air, and a lot of that space is being used for cabling and infrastructure to go through. It was shocking to see a lot of this stuff—and not shocking in a Mike Holmes, Holmes on Homes renovation disaster way, but just to understand how flexible the maintenance workers have been in upgrading the building and what has happened.

I want to recognize as well that as a committee, we also went to Ottawa to see the House of Commons, which is already going through a restoration project. That really helped open our eyes about the restoration and what we’re up against. We want to be as fiscally responsible as possible. We know that this is an important project, but we also know that the people of Ontario want to ensure that we’re spending money wisely. The project in Ottawa is massive; it’s much larger than what we’re going to be doing here, but it really helped us understand the scope of what’s happening.

We live in a museum. This is very old building. It’s a lot of historical site—so it’s not the same as renovating your house, where you can just kick down a wall. There are a lot of things that we have to do here to ensure that we preserve the structure around us. Everywhere I look in this room has carvings and, really, art. Our chandeliers themselves are art. The ceiling is painted as art—the cameras can’t pan up there. It’s a beautiful building.

It reminds me, actually, of one evening when I was leaving late, and one of the precinct protection officers, Ralph, was staring at some cabinets on the first floor, on the west side. I was coming down the stairs, and Ralph was looking into the cabinets, and I thought maybe the glass got broken or something, and I asked if everything was okay. He said, “Oh, yes, we just rotate through, and I haven’t been here for a while. They changed the display, and I’m just enjoying it. Are you open to some advice?” I was very new—it was within my first year of being an MPP—and I was open to any kind of advice, so I said yes. And Ralph said, “Long days, short years. How many times do you rush to the House and walk past the artwork on the walls without stopping to look at them? These are long days that you’re having, but looking back, they’re going to be short years, and one day, you won’t be here anymore. I would recommend that you enjoy them.” And I do make a point of looking at the different artwork that’s on the walls, the busts, even the marble handrails or the flooring—I don’t know the right term for the flooring, but the tiny little stones, the mosaic in the flooring that someone on their hands and knees placed individually to make the design. Those are all things that I ignored for the first couple of months when I was elected, or took for granted—but recognizing that all of this stuff that is in here makes this place where we work beautiful. As ugly as it can feel some days—we can really get heated in debate—it’s a beautiful place to work.

Yesterday, the OLIP interns were here, and my first intern kept saying that my office was the most smiley place that she’d ever worked. And one of the reasons I think I’m always smiling here is that I know how privileged we all are to be here and to be the voices of our ridings. No matter what kind of mood I’m in, even if I’m not feeling well, I am always smiling in this building because it is a beautiful place to work, and we’re all so fortunate to be here.

I’m going to go to the bill. I’m feeling more nostalgic about the work that we do, but in terms of the bill, we have real hazards in the building that have to be addressed.

We have a steam heating system. We’re at the time of year, I think, when many of us are happy to be on House duty because there’s a sense of air conditioning in here that we haven’t been transitioned to in our offices. It’s warm outside, but the steam heating system is still running, because if we get a cold snap, it takes a long time to restart it, and so we have to transition. There is a time where it’s very, very warm here, and it’s not comfortable in a suit; it’s not even comfortable in a T-shirt. So we have a steam heating system that is not energy-efficient, to begin with. It’s outdated. It requires a lot of fabrication in order to repair it—because sometimes the maintenance people have to actually get parts fabricated to fix it. And it’s potentially a fire hazard. Steam can be dangerous under pressure. There’s a lot of work behind that.

We have a wiring system that’s out of date. I talked about the Cat 5 cables, but also, the cable trays are absolutely loaded. There has been a project to remove redundant cable, but it’s hard when they’re buried and twisted. There are areas that have been discovered that have exposed wires, like any building, that are being addressed. I don’t want to panic people, but there’s a lot of work over the time.

Anyone who has been to Queen’s Park will notice that we have Culligan Water containers on every floor, because you can’t drink the water because of the lead pipes that are in the building.

As in most buildings this old, there’s asbestos and lead and PCBs that have to be addressed. So when we do this project, we’re going to have to decant. We can’t all crowd over to the east wing while they do the west wing; it just won’t work. It’s going to be a large project, and going to Ottawa helped us to understand that.

This is going to take a long time to do, like I’ve said often. Best of luck to all of us that we will be here at the end of it, but the history is that many of us may not be. One of the members resigned to pursue another career option recently. So that’s the reality for us. We can come back as visitors. But this really isn’t about making the place great for us; it’s about making this place great for everybody else.

With all the work that’s coming ahead, I want to recognize the members on the committee and the work that they have done together. This is really, I would say, the most non-partisan committee I’ve ever been on. And my colleague was on the committee with me previously—it felt non-partisan then too. It is very non-partisan. I don’t think my mom would ever understand that I get along with Mike Harris. But, quite frankly, that member and I are the co-chairs of the subcommittee, and we have casual conversations, straight-up conversations about concerns and what we can do.

Part of this project really is about, when we do the renovations and we make this investment, that we want to ensure that this building reflects all of the people of Ontario. The quote I said talked about “old men,” and implied in that is “old white men,” in the Greek philosopher days. But the makeup of this province and the leadership of this province is no longer just old white men, and we want that to be reflected. We want newcomers to Canada to be reflected in this building. We want people from different backgrounds to be reflected in this building. We want this to feel like a place that reflects Ontario and everyone in Ontario. We want people to feel seen when they come into the building. We want to improve the security of the building—not just for ourselves, but for the staff who are here and for the visitors and the tours.

We want to ensure that we have consultations with as many people as possible. I think that, as a committee, the thing that worries us most is that you don’t know what you don’t know. And so as we’re reaching out to Indigenous groups and heritage experts and accessibility advocates, we start thinking about: Who we are missing? What advice will we not get? In our last meeting, actually, we were talking about: How do we open this so that people can just apply and submit information? And quite frankly, we’re going to get something wrong at the end of the day, because we’re human.

I’m reminded often of this quote: “The sign of a good negotiation is when both sides walk away with a rock in their shoe.” And so our goal, at a minimum, is not to get it so very wrong that people feel like they have more than just a rock in their shoe—that there’s a nudge of something we could have done a little bit better, but they understand that we were absolutely doing the best that we can.

On a point of order: Pursuant to standing order 78, I wish to inform the House that tonight’s evening meeting is cancelled.

Resuming the debate adjourned on May 10, 2023, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 75, An Act to enact the Queen’s Park Restoration Secretariat Act, 2023, and to make certain amendments to the Legislative Assembly Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act / Projet de loi 75, Loi édictant la Loi de 2023 sur le Secrétariat de la restauration de Queen’s Park et apportant certaines modifications à la Loi sur l’Assemblée législative et à la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et la protection de la vie privée.

Good morning. Let us pray.

Prières / Prayers.

Further debate?

Before I speak to Bill 75, I’m sad to share that this morning Ontario woke up as a province in grief. Today, as many of us know, we are sadly mourning another officer murdered in the line of duty. We are devastated by the loss of Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Eric Mueller, and we are praying for the other officers who have been injured in this tragedy in eastern Ontario. We anxiously await their recovery. Madam Speaker, as details emerge, we will be moving for a moment of silence later this morning. Our hearts are with the families of the officers impacted by this senseless event. Our thoughts are also with the brotherhood and sisterhood of the Ontario police community. These are special people who put themselves on the line each and every day. As I’ve said many times here, everyone has a right to feel safe in their own home and community.

Madame la Présidente, tous ont le droit de se sentir en sécurité chez eux et dans leur collectivité.

Again, we will have more to say on this later.

I’m delighted to speak on this bill, because I believe in this place. It’s such an honour for me to be here and sit with my colleagues in this Legislature and be part of a righteous opportunity to be part of democracy each day, a place where we can all contribute to bend the moral arc, the fabric of the values of who we are as Ontarians, and understanding what matters most. This place is utterly magnificent, and it belongs to absolutely everyone who calls Ontario home.

I can tell you, after my election on June 2, proudly representing the people of York Centre, I really entered this building for my very first time. Although I may have been here insignificantly throughout my youth, I don’t remember those visits, unfortunately. When I walked down these stairs for the first time and asked one of our own guides in our home of democracy to show me around, as an elected member, it was overwhelming, the sense of awe that I was here.

We’re here at so many times in our collective history, since this building was built—most recently, just this past Saturday, at the 21-gun salute and ceremony for the coronation of King Charles III. God save the King. We have witnessed so many events and miracles that have been part of this building’s history. Ontario is huge, and we know that, and our views are long because our province is so huge, and we know that as well. But we know that experience tells us never to take a clear sky for granted. Change can be abrupt and dramatic, and the biggest storms seem to appear out of nowhere and challenge even the most experienced forecasters.

When I go back to my first minutes in this building, shortly after my election, and how utterly magnificent this building is—it didn’t dawn on me how many parts of this building have seen generations that need repairs and restoration, because we only see the beauty, we only see the carvings in the wood, we only see the majesty that exists. As I came to know here, as many of us have, walking the stairs, as the member said, in the days prior, where the halls can be hot and in the summer they can be even hotter—we understand that this is a dome of democracy, something amazingly precious. I wonder, if this building could talk about its life, what it could reveal about its story.

Our democracy reminds us that we need to understand change, and we have to understand that change changes with time.

Madam Speaker, the place is defined by our dreams. It speaks to a present written—a current present; not a present, necessarily, that we give somebody, but it could be that as well—by our shared responsibilities, and it speaks to the future potential of those who will succeed us here one day.

When I look around on all sides of the House, it really is gratifying to see how much appreciation people have of this place. And I’m grateful for my colleague and mentor and friend, our government House leader, who has really led the freshman class to appreciating all that this chamber, all that this Legislature tells to us.

These hallowed halls are telling us that we will carry on in past traditions—and that, Madam Speaker, is one of the reasons why you are in the chair. You’re a presiding officer, and this is part of our tradition. But there’s more that exists. There’s the bricks. There is the culture of the stonework. There’s the respect of where these lands sit and how they sit. It talks about our history and those generations who were here long before us.

It’s amazing that we should never lose focus on what this building has meant to the approximate 1,980 people, since Confederation, who were elected to serve here. I remember when the Clerk of the House told me, on my very first few days, my number. Each of us has a number; they can’t take that away from us. My number is 1,947. When I look around the room, those who have been in so many proceeding Parliaments—their numbers are lower. When you think about the honour that we have, to be one of less than 2,000 people who call this place home—I still can’t get over that. I think of the courage, dignity and the respect that our predecessors who were here had that allowed us to serve on this day, that allowed us to serve from different faiths and different backgrounds, that allowed us to understand that this historic building has hosted numerous gatherings over the years.

We’ve celebrated, just in the last number of months since I’ve been here—understanding this is a gathering place for many. Every day, there’s a reception, and when I miss a reception or I don’t know about it, I feel that I’ve missed out on something special in our own building. We’ve celebrated, in recent months, Black History Month, and I want to thank everyone, including our Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity and the member from Ajax, who put on this event. This event happened here in this building. I think of Persian Heritage Month, with the delicious food and teas that they served, and I thank our Minister of Children, Community and Social Services and the member from Carleton and others who attended that event. I recall the lunar new year celebration and the member from Richmond Hill, who took leadership in that; and the member who led Hellenic Heritage Month, in March—this was a wonderful opportunity—the member from Oakville North–Burlington. We celebrated Sikh Heritage Month. We celebrated Dutch Heritage Month. We celebrated Jewish Heritage Month and Polish Heritage Month and South Asian Heritage Month. And only in Ontario and only in this building, this magnificent dome of democracy, could we have done something as beautiful, because as the government House leader has said and the Premier has said and I have said, our diversity is what makes Ontario and this Legislature unbelievably special; parce que notre diversité est notre plus grande réussite.

Nothing can ever replicate the diversity that we have in Ontario, and I tell people this in my riding of York Centre that is incredibly diverse; I tell it whenever I travel. It is something that we celebrate. This is something that will never be replicated likely anywhere in the world.

When we look at this building, a building that was built a long time ago, it has not undergone, as the member said, a major renovation in slightly over 100 years—and I would argue it depends on what you call a renovation, because when I saw the old pictures of Premier Davis or Premier Rae or Premier Peterson sitting here, the carpet may have looked different and the chair covers may have looked different.

But really and truly, nothing lasts forever, and we need a building that will serve us for tomorrow. We need to make sure that from a safety perspective and from an operational standards perspective, this building will serve parliamentarians for years to come.

Even when it comes to safety—and again, I want to thank the leaders of the Clerk’s office and the Speaker’s office and the government House leader’s office who take the emergency preparedness so seriously. When we look forward, we’re confronted with new challenges that we never, historically, had to deal with. It is still a great honour, with ease, as a member—or as we have our staff be able to walk through our building with such ease and comfort. But there are technological improvements that must be made as science and technology changes, and we have to be part of that change. We can’t take our safety for granted. We can’t compromise on this.

We must make the investments necessary to ensure that everyone who works here is not only safe but works in a healthy workplace. This is absolutely important.

I want to acknowledge the importance of the visitors and dignitaries who come in this building. Again, we are so excited to showcase this building because it is magnificent. We don’t tell our dignitaries and our guests—the behind-the-scenes tour. But we know that in order for us to continue showing off this building for generations to come, it has to have the physical improvements and infrastructure changes that it needs.

I want to recognize in this workplace, in this special dome of democracy, the members and the staff and the legislative staff and the custodial staff, the special constables and peace officers who keep us safe—these are amazing people—the librarians, and everyone else who works as part of the House of democracy.

When we have a safe community, we have absolutely everything, and I spoke about this when I started my remarks. When we have a Queen’s Park for tomorrow that will allow this to go another 100 years, our successors many generations down will thank us for the efforts and leadership we did in 2023 to pass this bill—understanding that we are now laying the seeds for a foundation for tomorrow, just like those when this building was built did. So this bill is a big deal.

If passed, the Queen’s Park Restoration Act, 2023, will establish a secretariat within government tasked with planning and executing a full-scale restoration of the Legislative Building at Queen’s Park, including temporary relocation of operations. As the government House leader has said and others who are on the committee have said, we’re learning from people who have done this. We’re not reinventing the wheel to start with nothing. That’s the beauty of seeing other houses of democracy that have already gone through the restoration—to have the best practices, to learn what they have learned, to take the nuggets of the information forward so that we can benefit.

This government will leverage its significant expertise in managing this large-scale infrastructure project—and we’re doing that. You just have to look behind Whitney Block, and you see that we’re taking buildings, the Hearst Block and the Macdonald Block that needed renovations, so that we will have offices for those people in Ontario public service—first-class offices, safe offices—and for the people who work here and for the members. We deserve nothing less.

The Queen’s Park Restoration Act, 2023, will provide a strong foundation on which government is given the authority and accountability necessary to execute this in a timely matter.

As I wrap up some final thoughts, I want to say how proud we all should feel that we took our place in this building in a moment in time, because it doesn’t happen to everyone; we’re not all that fortunate—that those who saw fit to elect us brought us to this place. That’s why, each time I walk in the door, I always say to myself, “How blessed are we?”—not “how blessed am I?”—because it doesn’t matter who we are or who we love or who we worship or how we worship or where we came from or how we got here, this place is ours. It belongs to everyone, and what matters is that we’re here together, diverse and different and absolutely incredible.

I really want to again give my thanks to everyone for their dedication who works in this building, because they are heroes.

As I consider myself proud that this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand for election, to run for election and to be right here, it just reminds me of how blessed we are.

So I hope everyone will support Bill 75, because we believe in our province and in our future; parce que nous croyons en notre province et en notre avenir.

We will all take inspiration in knowing—and I’ve said this before, but the lines fit again. This province is big. It’s bigger than all of us. It’s more important than any of us. Ontario was here before us; it will be here long after us, and most importantly, it belongs to every one of us.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Merci. Meegwetch.

Questions? Further debate? Further debate?

Mr. Calandra has moved third reading of Bill 75, An Act to enact the Queen’s Park Restoration Secretariat Act, 2023, and to make certain amendments to the Legislative Assembly Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? In my opinion, it is carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The House recessed from 0939 to 1015.

C’est avec tristesse que je me lève en Chambre ce matin pour vous dire qu’il y a une tragédie qui a eu lieu dans notre circonscription cette nuit. J’ai été réveillé ce matin par le président des comtés unis de Prescott et Russell pour m’annoncer que trois officiers de police ont répondu à un appel domestique dans le village de Bourget. Il y a eu une fusillade, et un de ces policiers n’est plus parmi nous, donc a perdu la vie.

J’aimerais dire que nos pensées sont avec les amis et la famille de l’officier Mueller puis aussi dire à nos premiers répondants que nous sommes là pour les aider et que nous pensons à eux. Pour une petite communauté comme Bourget où il y a pratiquement 500 habitants, ou peut-être un peu plus, ce sont des choses auxquelles on ne s’attend pas.

Je dois dire que je suis fier de faire partie d’un gouvernement qui supporte les policiers puis qui fait sûr qu’ils aient les outils pour venir en aide, pour le bon travail qu’ils font tous les jours. Pour cette raison, j’aimerais remercier tous les premiers répondants. On pense à eux. J’espère qu’ils vont avoir les ressources nécessaires pour passer par-dessus cet évènement-là. Nos pensées sont avec les familles.

I’m very pleased to rise today to speak about an innovative company that is joining us here today in the Legislature. Most of us will recognize the name Izumi from countless sport fishing championships and an incredible 38-year television show highlighting places to fish all across Ontario—the best recreational fishing in the world.

To the members of this House, I want to let you know that Izumi Aquaculture, led by brothers Wayne and Bob Izumi, are here today to tell us about the tremendous new industry that they’re helping to build. They are utilizing floating raceways in former pit and quarry sites, in a manner that actually improves the surrounding environment, while building our capacity to feed ourselves and so many more.

Fresh fish is a dietary staple, a wonderfully nutritious and delicious protein that adds to the very wide palette that is “Good Things Grow in Ontario.” Upper Canada steelhead salmon is delicious. All of us are invited to join the Izumi brothers and several other members of the team at Izumi Aquaculture to sample the delectable treat that is locally sourced and expands our food security and capacity.

I hope you will all join us today after question period in room 230 for a taste and to learn more about this innovative approach.

I had the honour of attending the opening for the Auchmar Manor, which is a historic building in my riding. The Auchmar Manor was built in 1855 by Sir Isaac Buchanan, a political leader who represented Hamilton in the Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario pre-Confederation.

The manor is just one of the magnificent buildings in the area that are an important legacy of our history. Walking through Hamilton, Dundas, Ancaster, you can visit historic locations like Dundurn Castle, once the family home of Queen Camilla’s great-great-grandmother. Everywhere you go, there’s a celebration of the pairing between food and heritage. You can grab a bite at the Collins Brewhouse, built in 1840, dine at Quatrefoil, built in the 1860s, grab a beer at the Coach and Lantern, built in the 1700s and used during the War of 1812, or meet friends at the vibrant Café Domestique, which was built in 1911.

The organization that hosted me is Doors Open Hamilton, who prepare these buildings for tours, offer walking tours and do advocacy for their preservation locally and here at Queen’s Park. I want to thank the organizers who gave their time, especially local historians Stan Nowak, Diane Dent, Richard Allen, Shannon Kyles and the many, many others, the many volunteers who give their time to honour and preserve these great buildings to make sure that they are standing for many future generations to enjoy. Thank you so much for all that you do in the riding of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

No further business.

May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month across Canada. It is an opportunity for Lyme patients, advocates and educators to spread awareness about how to prevent Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

I want to recognize some of the groups working tirelessly across Ontario to improve the lives of people who have Lyme disease: Linda Kelso and the Ontario Lyme Alliance; CanLyme; Rossana Magnotta and the G. Magnotta Foundation for Vector-Borne Diseases; as well as Dr. Melanie Wills with the University of Guelph Lyme disease research lab. They are all advocating for more resources for patients with Lyme disease across Ontario and Canada.

Lyme disease is a significant and growing health issue across our province. It is a tick-borne bacterial infection. Lyme-carrying ticks are on the rise across Canada, and the highest rates of human-acquired cases are in Ontario. If left undiagnosed and untreated, Lyme can mimic other diseases like ALS, multiple sclerosis and lupus.

Speaker, once May is over, people with Lyme disease will still be suffering. Ontario needs to do more to help those already diagnosed with Lyme and to prevent further spread of the disease.

I encourage this government to help tackle Lyme in Ontario by implementing all 10 recommendations from the 2018 Report of the Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Illnesses Task Force.

Speaker, I challenge all MPPs to join me and take a bite out of Lyme on the front lawn this afternoon, right after question period.

Good morning. Mino-gigizheb.

This week is nurses’ week, and I’d like to talk about nurses in the north. Federal nurses working in fly-in First Nations clinics are in a crisis. They work 24-hour shifts in out-of-date facilities, thousands of miles away from their homes and families. I know this takes a toll on their mental and physical health, and the burnout is at an all-time high. The health care crisis faced by the people of Kiiwetinoong is made worse by these conditions, which leads to unnecessary suffering and needless deaths.

All levels of government have a treaty obligation to provide health care.

Rather than dealing with the causes of this recruitment and retention crisis, the federal government spends millions of dollars contracting out work to private nursing agencies, and we know Ontario does the exact same thing. This approach leaves patients in the north without the consistency and the quality of care they deserve and creates a situation where staff and nurses are working alongside freelance workers at double their salaries. We cannot continue to accept this. This is not normal, and we need to improve.

I’d like to say to the nurses: Meegwetch. Thank you for the work that you do in the north.

I had a topic in mind that was far more cheerful, and then I woke up this morning and found out that we had lost another police officer in the line of duty, Sergeant Eric Mueller. Part of me considered just standing here for the remainder of my time, because there really are no words, but what I wanted to say was, to the officers out there and the friends and the family, how deeply sorry I am.

I was the partner of a police officer for quite some time, and we were together during the period of the Nova Scotia shooting. He wasn’t even a patrol officer; he was in major crimes, so not generally responding to calls. But after that happened, I experienced these incredible panic attacks when I would call him and he didn’t immediately answer his phone. I would have this fear that he was dead even though most of the murders that had happened now had not even happened at that point in time.

All this to say that I understand, in some small way, what the families of these officers feel when they say goodbye and they go to work in the morning, no longer knowing if they will come home safely. I will continue to be an advocate for them, and again, just express how deeply, deeply sorry I am to all of these officers.

I proudly rise to carry on a great Nursing Week tradition, begun by my predecessor Percy Hatfield, to recognize in the House the recipient of this year’s RNAO Lois Fairley Nursing Award, Mary Cunningham. Mary has been serving for 46 years and has been part of the intensive care unit at our Ouellette Campus since 1990. Mary mentors and guides all those who have had the privilege to work with her. She has helped develop the provincial standards for nursing in critical care, as well as for end-of-life programs. It is Mary’s work to care for families that truly shines through, while consistently giving of her knowledge to our community’s newest nurses. Her colleagues have rightfully described her passion for caregiving as being contagious.

The Fairley family and the Windsor-Essex chapter of the RNAO selected Mary from among nominations received from the public. Lois Fairley, the namesake of the award, was both a graduate and an employee of Windsor’s Grace Hospital for 38 years. Lois served as a director of RNAO and president of the Ontario Nurses Association, as well as sitting on the St. Clair College nursing program advisory committee.

Mary Cunningham demonstrates, just as Lois Fairley did, that amazing people work in nursing, and it’s truly fitting that she’s bestowed with this honour.

Thank you so much, Mary, for your service to us in Windsor-Essex and to the province of Ontario.

As we celebrate Nursing Week in Ontario, I’d like to take a moment to thank the hard-working nurses of Ottawa West–Nepean and all across Ontario, including the amazing nurses of ONA Local 83 at the Ottawa Hospital, Local 84 at the Queensway Carleton Hospital and the wonderful RPNs of CUPE 4000 and CUPE 2875. Their dedication and unwavering commitment to patient care has supported so many of us through so many difficult, challenging, heartbreaking and life-affirming moments of the past few years, and they have done all of this incredible work in spite of the very challenging conditions they’ve had to work in and the serious disrespect with which they have been treated by this government.

A sincere and heartfelt thank you for all of the work that you do and keep on doing.

Now it’s time for us to have your back. It’s time for the government to negotiate a fair contract, to stop fighting the court’s decision on Bill 124. It’s time to stop the privatization agenda that is pulling nurses out of the public health care system, leaving public hospitals short-staffed and contributing to longer wait times and frustrated patients. It’s time to stop the temp agency insanity that puts profits in the pockets of investors while treating nurses on the public payroll unfairly. It’s time for the government to show nurses the respect you so deserve so that you can keep on doing the job you love.

I’m incredibly proud to recognize and celebrate the achievements of some of Oakville’s most innovative businesses and successful entrepreneurs at the 28th annual Oakville Awards for Business Excellence. The event was organized by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Oakville West.

I would like to extend my congratulations and recognize the award recipients, the recipients of:

—the RBC Large Business of the Year award, Reunion Coffee Roasters;

—the Bell Community Builder award, the Oakville Community Foundation;

—the O’Connor MacLeod Hanna Professional Services Provider of the Year award, Wellness for the Body;

—the Cogeco Entrepreneur of the Year award, Star Quality Private Investigations;

—the Henderson Partners Mid-size Business of the Year award, Ultimate Pool Service;

—the Visit Oakville tourism award, Paradiso Restaurants;

—the CN not-for-profit excellence award, the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides;

—the Media Resources Service Industry of the Year award, Soccer World;

—the KPMG Small Business of the Year award, On The Spot carpet cleaning;

—the Sagen young professional of the year award, Rebecca Pointon of Spinco Oakville; and finally

—the Business Icon Award, Siemens Canada, which proudly has its Canadian head office in Oakville.

Congratulations, once again, to all the award recipients. Your passion and dedication to your businesses and our community is inspiring.

I’d like to welcome Wanda Deschamps and her son Adrien here to Queen’s Park. Wanda is a local EDA volunteer, and she’s also the founder of Liberty Co, which advocates for increasing neurodivergent employment in Ontario.

I’d like to welcome, from my constituency of Vaughan–Woodbridge, Nicholas Vine and Aleksandra Dowiat, whose daughter Sophie is page captain today.

Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Meegwetch, Speaker. This morning, I’d like to introduce the policy and the communications team from the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres. They are here in the members’ gallery: Abigail Hill; Tessa Jourdain; Chelsea Combot; Jennifer McPhee; Sarah Lukaszczyk; Stan Williams; Annie Mackillican; Francene Antone; Randi Jacob; Jada Reynolds; and, again, the former member for Toronto Centre, Suze Morrison.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, and meegwetch for the important work that you do.

I am very pleased today to welcome to the chamber my new constituency assistant, Amy Lester.

Welcome, Amy.